“As the West continues to bake in unprecedented drought fueled by climate change, it’s outrageous that the House is putting the narrow interests of one polluting industry ahead of the welfare of America’s clean water and air, wildlife and public health."

03-06-2014 // Miles Grant

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a measure by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) to block Environmental Protection Agency limits on industrial carbon pollution.

Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:

"As the West continues to suffer in unprecedented drought fueled by climate change, it’s outrageous that the House is putting the narrow interests of one polluting industry ahead of the welfare of America’s clean water and air, wildlife and public health.

"In passing this bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from taking reasonable steps to cut industrial carbon pollution, the House is picking winners and losers in our energy policy and in our economy. What about the outdoor businesses facing hardship because of shrinking coldwater fish populations and vanishing moose, the tourism jobs that depend on National Parks like Yosemite now threatened by intensifying wildfires, and the Midwestern farmers whose crops face ever worsening drought and flood cycles?

"Our elected officials are putting our children and grandchildren at risk by ignoring climate change. The least this Congress can do is step aside while the Environmental Protection Agency does the right thing to protect us from the dangers of industrial carbon pollution."